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Mi 4c or OnePlus X?

Hi,
I'm curretnly on the xcover 2 and I thinking to buy one of these devices (Xiaomi Mi4C, OnePlus X).
I create list of pros and cons for these two devices:
OnePlus X
Pros:
+Design and build quality
+oxygen OS with updates
+LTE support
+AMOLED display
+8 MP front camera
+Micro SD support
+Big Custom rom support coming
+Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Cons:
-SD 801 (but still good processor)(MSM8974PRO-AA)
-No ac and 5Ghz Wifi
-No NFC
-No IR blaster
-No USB Type-C
-Small battery
-No front buttons backlights
-Slippery
-SD card problem //fixed
MI 4C
Pros:
+Buttons backlights
+Type C
+SD 808
+IR blaster
+Wifi ac
+Big battery (but still battery life isn't that great)
+ Very good 13MP camera
Cons:
-No MicroSD (but 32GB must be enough)
-LTE Band 20 (800) missing
-bluish screen (7,844 K) (please, owners report) //PhoneArena
-Source is not published (if it will ever)
-Updates?
-"feel that the phone always takes a few milliseconds too long to respond to our touch." //PhoneArena //Fixed
-One Glass Solution (if it break you can make say goodbye to touchscreens)
What do you think?
Thanks!

If I'm right also oneplus x lacks in 800 Mhz LTE band
Inviato dal mio Mi-4c utilizzando Tapatalk

No. Oneplus x for eu include band 20. Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/oneplus_x-7630.php

I was thinking of getting the opx for a family member but I think the mi4c is better due to what you mentioned, bigger battery, Wi-Fi ac, USB C, ir blaster which is a bonus and the soc. Camera is very good and fast. Maybe wait for opx review with camera samples.
Custom roms may be slow but there is a cm12.1 rom which is a daily driver except a few minor bugs.

Touch problem was only there on the first ROM. All roms after that had no problems with it. We get weekly updates aswell but probably won't get official marshmallow soon (custom rom, 99% sure though), so you're pretty much set on the software part. I'd say the screen is very good, it has high contrast rates and looks very bright. You can control the saturation etc. so blue (cold) and warm colors is probably what they are reporting.
The advantage to OPX I'd see is band 20, it looks a bit better (just my opinion, but build quality is solid on both), has AMOLED and it has MicroSD.

I already have mi 4c and its better than even one plus two
One plus x is average phone.
Sent from my Mi-4c using Tapatalk

I'm torn on this too, in fact I just got an invite for the X today.
For me it's 4G band 20 and micro SD card support vs better battery life (for me on CM12.1 at least) and faster WiFi speeds.
I might get an X anyway and use as my DD for a few weeks

OnePlus X. It's a lot easier to maintain / modify
I got my invite today so just sitting on the website waiting for the Buy Now button to appear.

geko95gek said:
OnePlus X. It's a lot easier to maintain / modify
I got my invite today so just sitting on the website waiting for the Buy Now button to appear.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apparently xiaomi release source a few months later? When it does, it will be the better phone.
I'd wait for camera samples so that way youll have an all rounder phone

wingsfortheirsmiles said:
I'm torn on this too, in fact I just got an invite for the X today.
For me it's 4G band 20 and micro SD card support vs better battery life (for me on CM12.1 at least) and faster WiFi speeds.
I might get an X anyway and use as my DD for a few weeks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mind sharing all tweeks/settings you have to get the good battery life on cm12.1 pleaee? And do you have the gps locatiin bug?

andrew551 said:
Hi,
I'm curretnly on the xcover 2 and I thinking to buy one of these devices (Xiaomi Mi4C, OnePlus X).
I create list of pros and cons for these two devices:
OnePlus X
Pros:
+Design and build quality
+oxygen OS with updates
+LTE support
+AMOLED display
+8 MP front camera
+Micro SD support
+Big Custom rom support coming
+Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Cons:
-SD 801 (but still good processor)
-No ac and 5Ghz Wifi
-No NFC
-No IR blaster
-No USB Type-C
-Small battery
-No front buttons backlights
MI 4C
Pros:
+Buttons backlights
+Type C
+SD 808
+IR blaster
+Wifi ac
+Big battery (but still battery life isn't that great)
+ Very good 13MP camera
Cons:
-No MicroSD (but 32GB must be enough)
-LTE Band 20 (800) missing
-bluish screen (7,844 K) (please, owners report) //PhoneArena
-Source is not published (if it will ever)
-Updates?
-"feel that the phone always takes a few milliseconds too long to respond to our touch." //PhoneArena //Fixed
-One Glass Solution (if it break you can make say goodbye to touchscreens)
What do you think?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you get Mi4c, there is no competition, Mi4c is superior in areas that really matters:
1. Performance: Snapdragon 801 vs 808.
- This is the heart of your phone, it determine the snappiness, performance and even power consumption of your phone.
- 808 has big.LITTLE. During idle, your SOC will use very little power because only the "little cores" are running. It safes battery. When you need performance, the A57 cores high performance will start.
- Snapdragon 808's Cortext A57 is one generation ahead of the 801's Krait 400.
- 808 is 64 bit. Simply recompiling an App with 64 bit gcc gain up to a few % performance. Free.
- Adreno 418 vs 330
- 20nm vs 28nm technology. Lower nm mean more efficient; lower power consumption and/or higher performance
- This alone should be reason enough to get Mi4c.. why still chose old SOC???
2. Battery
- 3080mAh vs 2525 mAh
- That's 21% more battery...
3. Display
- IPS vs AMOLED
- It's matter of personal preference, I take IPS any day. I love bright screen and ability to use comfortably even under the bright sun.
- Mi4c display is 1 of the best I have seen, really black and good contrast. Read more: http://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_mi_4c-review-1328p3.php
- Mi4c's front buttons backlights basically give you another 10% more screen space.
About ROM, mi4c has weekly update. Although the device has not launched outside of China yet, there are already 4 customs ROM available:
1. Unofficial EU MIUI
2. Unofficial CM12.1
3. Preview Android M (http://en.miui.com/thread-178779-1-1.html)
4. AOSP ROM (http://en.miui.com/thread-178354-1-1.html)
I have been using the phone for over a month now, really happy with it.

cowithgun said:
If you get Mi4c, there is no competition, Mi4c is superior in areas that really matters:
1. Performance: Snapdragon 801 vs 808.
- This is the heart of your phone, it determine the snappiness, performance and even power consumption of your phone.
- 808 has big.LITTLE. During idle, your SOC will use very little power because only the "little cores" are running. It safes battery. When you need performance, the A57 cores high performance will start.
- Snapdragon 808's Cortext A57 is one generation ahead of the 801's Krait 400.
- 808 is 64 bit. Simply recompiling an App with 64 bit gcc gain up to a few % performance. Free.
- Adreno 418 vs 330
- 20nm vs 28nm technology. Lower nm mean more efficient; lower power consumption and/or higher performance
- This alone should be reason enough to get Mi4c.. why still chose old SOC???
2. Battery
- 3080mAh vs 2525 mAh
- That's 21% more battery...
3. Display
- IPS vs AMOLED
- It's matter of personal preference, I take IPS any day. I love bright screen and ability to use comfortably even under the bright sun.
- Mi4c display is 1 of the best I have seen, really black and good contrast. Read more: http://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_mi_4c-review-1328p3.php
- Mi4c's front buttons backlights basically give you another 10% more screen space.
About ROM, mi4c has weekly update. Although the device has not launched outside of China yet, there are already 4 customs ROM available:
1. Unofficial EU MIUI
2. Unofficial CM12.1
3. Preview Android M (http://en.miui.com/thread-178779-1-1.html)
4. AOSP ROM (http://en.miui.com/thread-178354-1-1.html)
I have been using the phone for over a month now, really happy with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree. I pick Mi4C because once I spend money, I want to use hardware for as long as possible. Mi4C is more future ready with USB-C, WiFi-ac, 64bit compliance and cost. AMOLED is one thing that I'd miss but guess that's a minor negative.

shangxor said:
Do you mind sharing all tweeks/settings you have to get the good battery life on cm12.1 pleaee? And do you have the gps locatiin bug?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No tweaks but aggressively toggling settings like aeroplane mode when on my train journey to/from work (no reception), only turning sync on when I connect to WiFi and then only connecting to WiFi occasionally to check emails. No bluetooth, location (yes, locking on is buggy for me but can get it eventually)

I love my Mi4C, the power, the battery life, the design and the display is awesome (and its not blueish) before I'd buy One Plus X, I would rather buy a Xiaomi Mi4

I just wish the Mi 4c had either 64GB or SD card support as well as band 20, I don't care about NFC. If it had those it'd be the perfect phone for me!

The Mi 4c is superior but if you really need band 20 e. g. you instead have to use 2G there's no way around the one plus x
either way both are solid phones

Mi4C is still not released worldwide, which means there will be issues if you want claim warranty. Oh and it's build is so plastic.

geko95gek said:
Mi4C is still not released worldwide, which means there will be issues if you want claim warranty. Oh and it's build is so plastic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats the gamble. I have read one plus warranty/cs is not good and very hard to get hold of.
About the plastic, its not cheap like how samsung use to have, its better than the Nexus 5X, compared with bros phone. Think of it as premium plastic

ermacwins said:
About the plastic, its not cheap like how samsung use to have, its better than the Nexus 5X, compared with bros phone. Think of it as premium plastic
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally agree

ermacwins said:
Thats the gamble. I have read one plus warranty/cs is not good and very hard to get hold of.
About the plastic, its not cheap like how samsung use to have, its better than the Nexus 5X, compared with bros phone. Think of it as premium plastic
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess but at least OP have a global division where RMA and warranty issues get handled. Which is so much better than importing a phone yourself and then having to send it back to China if something goes wrong.
I know what you mean about he plastics, I've had 2 Xiaomi devices myself before. 1 of which was plastic, and it felt alright but if I have a choice I'd always avoid any type of plastic.

After using your mate 8 would you recommend others to buy one?

I was wondering right now after you have used mate 8 for quite some time Would you recommend others to do so?
:fingers-crossed:

Yes. I bought a nexus 6p rooted it and loved it but the moment I picked up the mate 8, I haven't taken the 6p out of its box. And the 6p is a great phone

Yes I would definitely suggest to get one?

Best android phone i ever had but best to try it before purchase to check if the size is Ok.

Aboslutely YES!
I got a 128Gb NXT-AL10.. Installed International firmware, TWRP and rooted.
TOP PHONE!

yep, i think i would have regretted getting the 6P (which i intended to buy at first) when the mate 8´s specs became public
awesome phone and not looking back!
only 3 things to consider:
-can you deal with the size? true, its got a nice screen-to-body ratio with tiny bezels, but its still a big phone!
- secondly, can you arrange yourself with EMUI? and if not, are you willing to tinker with the system to adjust it to your needs and wants?
- lastly, the GPU is "only" mainstream, so if u want highend graphics and are a mobile gamer, u might want to wait for upcoming SD or exynos devices...
on the other hand, if your focus is primarily on battery life, super smooth day to day operation, the fastest mobile cpu on the planet (indeed, even faster than upcoming SD820 and exynos8890!) a HUGE display with superthin bezels and super crisp, clear and vivid colors, then this is definitely for you!

Got a Mocha Gold 4/64gb version and I simply love the phone. Since I have been using Mi Note Pro before, I do not see whats wrong with Huawei's EMUI (albeit tons of complaints web-wide).
Not too sure about mainstream reviews, but mine came along with a rapid charger and flip case+generic screen protector. Some online reviews were *****ing about not having the rapid charger in the package.
On the other hand, for the un-initiated, the GPU on the mate 8 may look like crap vs the SD or Exynos. But after testing it on my Mi Note Pro (SD 810 SoC), I discovered the Mate 8 does not throttle (or a little) when compared to it, after prolonged game play.
My Mi Note Pro, starts to heats up really fast and you can tell the throttling a few minutes into GPU intensive games.
I am not sure about Exynos or the latest SD820 SoC devices, but based on Tom's hardwareRead the Article here
Quote:
"Looking at these results adds new context to HiSilicon's decision to use a quad-core GPU in the Kirin 950. By focusing on sustained performance rather than peak performance, a somewhat risky decision from a marketing standpoint, the Kirin 950 actually provides similar, if not better, performance after a few minutes of gameplay as compared to some other high-end SoCs, such as the Exynos 7420 or Snapdragon 810, at least when paired with a 1080p display like in the Mate 8."
In fact I am very pleased with its Antutu Benchmark results, boasting 97k by another member in another thread, with mine somewhere around 92k stock un-modded.
Cheerios!!

Does the Mate 8 have multi-user profiles by default? If not are you able to somehow activate them?

I wouldn't recommend because of the notifications bug. People who don't dive deep into settings will miss emails, messages, etc.

In this case, this is not a mate 8 bug but an android 6 bug.
See posts about nexus 6p and others

I would recommend it to most people. If having the best camera is important to you then I would pass. Everything else is great with the phone except the camera doesn't take sharp enough photos. They look sharp on the phone screen but transfer them anywhere else and you'll see how sharp they aren't compared to other phones.

That's an issue, that hopefully will soon be fixed!
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9878/the-huawei-mate-8-review/8

Why you conisder a rooted phone is great .

Xiaomi mi4. Worth it?

I currently have an lg g2 that I really like. The xiaomi mi4 is currently on sale for 155$. It is a really good deal and I am going to sell my g2 for the same amount. The question is, is it worth it? What advantages will I get with the mi4? I am scarred to get a yellow spot on my g2's screen, because it is very common. I also like miui a lot, but I hate lag. I can see the slightest lag

You may just buy Redmi Note 3 Pro instead of Mi4, it has better chip. It has fast development like mi4. I bought mi4 for IDR 1,6 million (about USD 120) for my wife yesterday, but after I know how fast the development of Reno 3 Pro is, I realize "buy Redmi Note 3 Pro" is better choice.
Sent from my m2 note using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 12:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:51 AM ----------
http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=6518&idPhone2=7863
Reno 3 Pro has MicroSD Expansion or dual simcard if you choose. With thinner body.
Sent from my m2 note using Tapatalk

Yes, I must agree on the Redmi Note 3 Pro. I also had a G2 as my main driver, but after some beating it took, it needed replacement after more than 2 years of use.
I did an extensive research, and was most likely to buy G3 or G4. But the thing that bothers me about those phones is:
a) processor - 801 is not much of a upgrade, and I would rather avoid 808/810, for heating issues/throttling, which means inadequate performance in the long run, and faster battery drain.
b) No physical buttons - this is very subjective, but I hate the software buttons for my reasons, and would much rather go for a phone with physical buttons
c) Design - G4 has an attractive design, but G3 looks very similar to the G2, which got boring to me.
d) Display - I do NOT want 1440p display on a phone, for my own reasons (battery life). Plus, the G3 supposedly has washed out colors.
After a ~month of research, I found out about the Snapdragon 650 and 652, and boy, after owning the Note 3 Pro for about a month now, I can say that the processors are incomparably better than the 808/810 (which leads me to an obvious question - is the 20nm TSMC process to blame? I really believe it is.).
The pros of Note 3 Pro
- price: 32GB/3GB version (the only one you want) cost me about 270 USD, brand new delivered from China by DHL, with custom fees pre-paid and insured.
- display: although 5.5 inch is maybe ever so slightly bigger than an ideal size for one-handed usage, the display looks stunning. I'm getting compliments on the display from everyone who sees it. The colors are so vibrant and saturated! I just love to look at the display (not to say that the G2 didn't have a good display - it is just no match for this one.)
- performance: absolutely unbeatable. I though the G2 was fast enough. Well, that changed when I got my hands on the Snapdragon 650. In my opinion, this SoC can only be beaten by 652, 820 and the 14nm Exynoses. Not to mention that the RAM and eMMC is most likely also much faster compared to the G2.
- battery life: Great, awesome, super cool. 4000 mAh and a very good SoC means that this thing will ALWAYS last you the whole day, even if you throw the heaviest workloads on it.
- and other minor things, like the great fingerprint sensor, MIUI goodies, great Wi-Fi, bluetooth and cellular reception, very clear and loud call speaker, microSD, dual SIM, etc.
Cons:
- missing LTE band 20 - the only thing that bothers me about this phone. Even though I live in a big city, I often have problems getting LTE signal - G2 did not have this problem and always had a reliable LTE connection
- locked bootloader - which can be unlocked, but official way is really cumbersome, as you have to wait for 2 weeks to get a permission to unlock, and even then, I managed to unlock it only after switching to a china dev rom (from global stable). After you get it OFFICIALLY unlocked, this is no longer a problem (there is also an unofficial way, but I wouldn't really recommend it, due to the hassle with flashing roms, which can brick your phone if done wrong).
- as with all stock ROMs, also MIUI is bloated with (for me) useless applications. I like to keep my phones as clean as possible, to maximize performance and battery life. But yeah, after you get a custom recovery and root, you can debloat it to your liking
All in all, I am more than satisfied with this phone. Right now, I would maybe switch it for a Mi5, but the price gap is not justifiable in my opinion.
TL;DR: Get the Redmi Note 3 Pro 32GB!

Done a ton of research to pick the next phone. Still cannot decide. Help!

First of all welcome everyone, glad to be a part of this forum. I've been lurking XDA developers since long, long time ago back in the PDA era (HTC SPV M5000 anyone?).
I've owned my Galaxy Note 2 for over 2.5 years now and I'm tired of constantly running out of internal storage and the now-supar camera. I'm looking to buy a new smartphone that will check off many boxes, but if I could describe what I need in 2 sentences, it would go something like: a large-screened productivity workhorse with loads of storage and battery, and a good camera. And if it's future-proof, that's even better! I want a device that will last me for at least 2+ years.
Here's what I'm looking for:
- Screen size between 5,5" and 6"
- Internal storage min. 32 GB, needs to have a microSD card slot (unless it has 128G internal storage)
- Decent camera with OIS (camera should handle low-light shooting well)
- Decent UI (unlike the majority of community here, I don't really want to be flashing my phone with new ROMs or any of that, I just want something that works well right out of the box and is user-customizeable through custom home launchers etc)
- Great battery life (this is big for me, I'm often on the road, I listen to tons of podcasts, use mobile data, bluetooth, sometimes wifi tethering etc. I need a phone that can get me through a looong day)
- Fingerprint scanner
- Won't put a huge hole in my wallet (I wouldn't mind paying more for the perfect and FUTURE-PROOF phone but seems like there isn't one that checks off all the boxes. At the same time I'm trying to keep it below $500)
- A physical home button is a plus (and capacitive buttons! Just like in Samsung Galaxy series)
- Screen res. above 1080p is a plus (better for VR and I will probably try some VR in near future)
- Replaceable battery is a plus (plus extended phone cases, yay!)
- OTG support is a plus
- USB-C is a plus
- Dual SIM is definitely a plus
- No curved screens like on the Samsung Edge series
I looked at:
- Huawei Mate 8 - checks off most boxes, nice big battery but crappy, buggy, and not very customizable UI.
- Huawei Mate P9 Plus - very interesting camera-wise, the rest just like above
- LG G5 - also very interesting camera-wise, a bit smaller screen, and a battery that's way too small. Although replacable, I cannot imagine remembering to bring a spare battery with me everywhere.
- Nexus 6P - great reviews and everything, great software BUT I'm mostly based in China where ALL Google services are blocked, so it would probably be a big pain to have to rely on VPN the whole time. Also camera has no OIS, although I did read it's great. Another con: a bit expensive and not easily available in the 128G version
- Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro - the top contender for me so far. The 5000mAh battery is nuts and just what I need. Dual SIM and dedicated microSD slot. Affordable. But the big bummer: sub-par camera. Also a bit low on the DPI if I ever want to use VR. And no notification light (how am I supposed to know if I got notifications?)
- Samsung Galaxy Note 4 - a bit slower than the A9 Pro, smaller battery, but better camera. And the stylus - I could definitely use the stylus for more productivity. Just really not sure about investing in the aging technology. I want to get at least 2 years out of the new smartphone. Also I've read there's some issues with GPS that are hard to solve. Added benefit of possibility of extended battery case.
- Samsung Galaxy Note 5 - nice and seems like a significant upgrade from Note 4 but no card slot, and expensive at 128G. Still only microUSB v2.0 even at the high price point.
- LG V10 and LG G4 - very interesting propositions, reportedly good cameras, very mediocre batteries (and not too good power management it seems) at 3000mAh but both could be extended with a bigger battery. Pretty sure I would be fine with a little bulkier phone with a case that accommodates a 4000-6000mAh battery, but I would still need to keep it as slim as possible, I don't mind if it's not the slimmest phone but I certainly don't want a thick and heavy brick in my pocket. I've also read reviews of some of the extended battery cases and it seems like the battery quality can be a real lottery. The batteries lose their capacity quickly, and I think none of them can be charged using the Quick Charge 2.0
- ZTE Avon 7 - veeery interesting proposition, not the biggest battery but almost everything else knocks me out of my socks. 6GB RAM possible, 128G storage that can be expanded by another 128G (!), capacitive buttons in the higher version, an added benefit of insane speakers. The camera is reportedly not too impressive though, although I'm pretty sure it's better than the one in Galaxy A9 Pro. The main concerns: it's a very fresh phone, the UI is reportedly not very optimized, I can imagine there will be plenty of issues that ZTE will need to fix through software before this phone runs as smoothly as the Galaxy A9 Pro or LG G4 would. And I hate waiting in hopes. Also, being in China, I think it's a bit tricky to purchase the phone in International/European version that has a broader range of bands and doesn't block Google services. I've read through the entire 35 page thread on XDA about this phone and yes, it seems like you can get the Google services to work without problems but who knows what the next ZTE updates will do to that. The way I generally see it is Chinese UI = potential problems.
For the Galaxy A9 Pro or LG G4 I would just go to Hong Kong to buy them and enjoy a phone that doesn't have the Google services blocked. I couldn't find the ZTE Avon 7 anywhere in HK on the internet.
All in all if I had to go to the store tomorrow I'd probably need to choose between a Galaxy A9 Pro, the well-proven LG G4 with a great camera (but a need to buy a good extended battery case and ultimately ending up with a rather bulky phone), the Galaxy Note 4, and the ZTE Avon 7.
Any suggestions, thoughts, recommendations?

Honor 8 or ZTE Axon 7 for daily smartphone?

I know it's hard to get unbiased responses from device specific forums, but I was wondering if anyone has any real world experience with both devices.
I've had the Honor 8 for a little over a week now and overall I am happy with it.
Things I like:
- design
- finger print location, responsiveness, and customized buttons
- battery life
- speaker quality (wasn't expecting much, so it was better than expected)
- EMUI, there are some things I'm not crazy for but there's a few useful features like intensive app notifications and some Huawei apps are solid enough to not delete
- no complaints about overall performance
Now the Axon 7 popped up on sale for a good price and I am thinking maybe I should go that route while I can still exchange the Honor.
The biggest thing keeping me tempted is the Snapdragon 820 vs the Kirin 950. I know the GPU is a bit weaker in the Honor but I wouldn't play any intensive games that would make it a breaking point.
So if anyone can answer any of these I would really appreciate it!
- Size: I never loved huge phones, but a lot of manufactures seem to have made it work. In pictures the Axon 7 doesn't look too much bigger than the H8, and it actually seems a bit more ergonomic to hold.
- Camera: I have an iPhone 7 for a work phone so this device's camera isn't the top priority. But for everyday shots here and there, can anyone tell me their impressions?
- Display quality: 1440p and AMOLED is nice, but doesn't really equate to a better display. The H8's LCD is pretty nice but color accuracy seems to be a bit all over the place. Hoping the Axon does a better job here.
- Speed: this is the biggest thing for me I suppose. How much of a noticeable difference there is (if at all) between the two phones. I imagine multicore scores don't really impact me as much for how I use the phone, but single core efficiency is important. The iPhone 7's speed has definitely impressed me, but still, I don't want to feel like I am going to a much slower device when swapping phones.
Sorry for the long post, just want to make sure I stick with the best bang for the buck. Thanks guys.

I have had the Axon 7 for a few months, and just got the Honor 8 yesterday. So I haven't had much time with the Honor 8, but I'll point out a few things. I have the Spigen rugged armor case on both, so they look very similar because of that.
1). Battery life on both is great IMO.
2). Axon 7 is definitely heavier, but doesn't look that much bigger. It does feel bigger though.
3). Auto brightness on the Honor 8 seems to go dim randomly and then slowly increase to the right brightness again.
4). My first impressions of the Honor 8 camera is that it is noticeably better. Especially in lower light.
5). The display on the Honor 8 is very nice. However IMO the Axon 7 display is excellent and of similar brightness.
6). The Honor 8 is very snappy. Axon 7 is snappier.
7). Axon 7 has double tap to wake. I wish it had double tap to sleep. I love both features, and one is better than none. Honor 8 has neither. I came from an LG V10 that had both.
8). Axon 7 has hardware capacitive keys that are not backlit. Bad choice IMO. Honor 8 has the onscreen buttons that I'm used to. I wish Axon 7 had an option to activate onscreen buttons.
Of course being used to the Axon 7 means that I'm biased with things that are different. When you have notifications on the statusbar at the top, on the Axon 7, it's the application's icon. On the Honor 8, it mixes them up a bit sometimes, for example including the senders picture on a FB messenger notification. IMO that can get confusing. Also, on the Honor 8, they're really small. Not sure why the Axon 7's seem so much larger when the screen is only 0.3" larger diagonally.
The Axon 7's front facing speakers will blow you away if you're used to an iPhone or the Honor 8.
Even though the Axon 7 gets lots of criticism for its software, I still feel it's closer to stock Android than the Honor 8. But when you go to settings, you get this "frequently used" setting tab that you cannot avoid. And it has nothing to do with frequently used - they just put a screenful of setting choices there, so I always switch to the other tab which has all the settings.

Thank you for the info! Lol, I just wish it made the decision easier for me.
But you bring up a couple main points I've been curious about.
How big does the Axon 7 feel compared to the H8? Huge phones turn me off, but the Axon seems decent considering it's 5.5"
And snappiness... is the speed with everyday use noticeable for you? I know you just got the device. This might be the biggest reason I lean towards the Axon 7.

I was considering the honor 8 vs the axon but went fwith the honor 8. This was an "upgrade" from a nexus 6p. From a size standpoint I love the 5in screen on the honor. It looks just as good as as my 6p almost and the battery life is better. As for the speakers I agree that the axon will blow away pretty much anything else on the market. As for the speed the honor is noticable faster then the 6p abit for the gpu which is a bit slower however it is livewithable if you play games. After the upgrade to android 7 on the honor the entire device become snappier. Honestly you are a fan of the form factor I would stick with the honor as there really isnt anything better out at the moment plus it is rootable if you are into that.

OP, what market are you in and what is your local price point?
I'm in the U.S. The Axon 7 (not mini) is listed at 399.00 + tax. I bring the price up because it is so close to the OP3T's price point, 439.00. It's worth looking into if you are already close at 400 bones with the A7. 40 bucks to future proof?
Bit of comparison, 3-way:
RAM. The OP3T has 6gb of lpddr4, the A7 has 4gb of lpddr4, the H8 has 4gb lpddr3. I don't think you will see a big difference in daily use, but the DDR4 is certainly faster and more future proof.
CPU/GPU. The OP3T has a Snapdragon 821 w/Adreno 530, the A7 has the Snapdragon 820 w/ Adreno 530, the H8 has the Kirin 950 w/Mali T880. As far as benchmark goes, the 950 trumps the 820/821. The Adreno however, kills the Mali, so intended usage matters here, and can be a decision maker.
Storage. The OP3T comes with 64gb storage, at the opening price point, but I don't believe it's expandable. The A7 starts with 64gb, expandable. And the H8 opens with 64gb, expandable.
Aesthetics. The A7, to me, is uglier than an Alabama Lot Lizard. The OP3T, well, it isn't ugly, but it isn't a work of art. The H8 is gorgeous, balanced, sized well for the average hand, and more slippery than a wet bar of soap in an oil factory.
Battery. I can only speak for the H8. I don't take a charger with me and I don't run out of battery through out the day. I have Bluetooth running, connected to my watch and headphones. I have wifi and GPS on all day, I listen to podcasts and Spotify for nearly 8 hours daily. I play video games during lunch...No problem.
Modding. I don't really have to say it, the OP3 line has the attention of several talented devs...and a lot of mid-range support guys like myself.
Why don't I have the OP3T? Mostly, I'm out of my bleeding-edge modding phase. The H8 is solid, inexpensive and a thing of beauty. I'm still within my 30 day return period, but the Nougat update is acting nicely and I doubt I'll return it.

Wow, thank you for the replies.
I guess I read wrong, but I swore the 64gb variant of the H8 had 4GB of DDR4 memory. That was actually something I was interested with and definitely overlooked by a lot of people (most reviewers don't even specify ram type).
Does the 950 really out do the Snapdragon 820? I saw a few benchmarks that made me scratch my head. For CPU benches, Geekbench 4 seems to be the go to. I swear I saw some where the 820 in the A7 scores quite a bit higher for single core speeds.
And yeah, I'm not crazy about the design of the ZTE. A phone's design never turned me against it, but I appreciate a good looking device. The Honor definitely wins in the looks department.
Since I have the freedom to use my iPhone 7 work phone basically like a personal (too many customer/work calls made me have to get a 2nd phone), I don't want to go into big $$ for a secondary device. I wanted to stay about under $400.
The 64gb H8 I got for $320 and the A7 I can get for $350. Didn't want to jump out of that range too much.
I used to root phones and mess with roms a few years back but anymore something stable is fine for me. I haven't received the 7.0 update yet on the H8.
Thanks again!

The RAM in the 64gb H8 might be DDR4. I've seen both stated. What I can say is that it benchmarks like DDR3, so that's what I assumed it was. But maybe there is an app or adb command that can provide proof.
Benchmark apps, I think they are well intended, but not exactly a precise prediction of what daily use is like. I've had my scores change by significant numbers, just by running a benchmark twice. Heck, my overall AnTuTu jumped up 6k after I took the B360 update, via Firmware Finder. I take them with a grain of salt.

Good point. I usually am the same way with benchmarks. People rating a phone off of app launching speed tests drives me a bit nuts too.
"Hey, YouTube loaded faster on this 4.7" 1080 device than this 5.5" 1440p phone, even though the latter has to load more content and pixels. First phone,bel faster phone." *sigh*

Just for confirmation, this screenshot is from the Hihonor website. LPDDR3.

Interesting. Wonder if it's region related. Anandtech's review lists ddr4, and while a typo could be assumed, they even comment on it.
"The Honor 8 does make the jump to LPDDR4 RAM, although it’s unlikely this will improve performance because the Kirin 950 and its quad-core GPU are not bandwidth limited."
Anandtech is usually pretty accurate, but who knows?
I downloaded to 7.0 just a few minutes ago. Didn't dig in much, but it seems like a pretty well thought out update.

Unless the CPU/GPU are being held back by memory bandwidth, which Anandtech says isn't the case for the Honor 8, then the only difference would be better battery life and less heat produced with LPDDR4. Since the Honor 8 has good to excellent battery life in general and phones don't overheat because of the RAM (so far as I've ever heard at least) if it does have LPDDR3 it's not making much of a difference.
I'm not sure at what rate memory consumption is growing on Android phones, but with 4 GB of RAM I'm only seeing about half of it used by applications. I don't play any intensive 3D games though, so I can't say how much those use while running. But I'd guess you'll probably be OK with 4 GB for probably at least a year and a half or two years from now. And you will probably want to upgrade because of new hardware features, faster CPU/GPU, software updates, etc by the time 4 GB just isn't cutting it anymore.
The Axon 7 and OP3 were the two other phones I was contemplating before getting an Honor 8 (well those two and the Moto X 2016 which ended up not ever coming into existence and the Pixel which ended up costing more than twice what I wanted to spend configured how I wanted it). The Axon 7 had some complaints in the reviews (back in August) about the Lock Screen Notification bell thing, being slippery in the hand, and the navigation buttons being too close together, and concerns about software updates. The OP3 had no Micro SD card and I wasn't comfortable being capped at 64 GB of space (I'm using ~47/96 GB available in my Honor 8, so it would have been fine in retrospect) and was out of stock in the beginning of October when I wanted to buy one. The Honor 8 I'd heard bad things about EMUI 4.1, how slippery in the hand it was (with a glass back!), and was concerned about software updates. But the Sapphire Blue is super pretty and I could see/feel one in person at a nearby Best Buy and have it that day without sales tax or shipping. So the Honor 8's what I ended up going with and I'm happy with it.
If 3D performance is important to you I'd go with the Axon 7 or OP3T. They're both a LOT faster at it. If custom ROMs and modding are important to you I'd go with the OP3T. There's a much larger active community working on it.
And if you go with the Honor 8 or Axon 7: Get a case. I've never held an Axon 7, but people who have say it's as slippery as the Honor 8 (which is to say very).

The A7 doesn't feel much bigger. But the screen looks bigger. I think it's because it has less wasted space above and below the display. So it feels a little bigger, but I think if the proportions of space above and below the display were equal, it would feel much bigger. Luckily that's not the case. Keep in mind that I came from the LG V10, and that felt like a big phone. It was gigantic. But I loved that phone.
As for snappiness, I have also seen the benchmarks. But not until after I had made my judgement. Purely anecdotal. When I got the H8, it seemed fine to me. Nice and snappy. A few hours later I went to the A7 to see if I had a certain app installed that I would also put on the H8. So I went to the app drawer and started scrolling through. That's when I noticed how fast the A7 is. I have Nova Prime on both, so it shouldn't be a difference between ZTE and Honor launchers.
Not sure if I messed up or not, but I set the Google Clock alarm for 5am. It never went off, and it was gone from the statusbar this morning. I'll have to experiment more. H8 has a "protected apps" section that may be why this happened. I just went in there and changed it so that the Google Clock is protected. And the Google Calendar widget was still displaying as if the current day is yesterday, so I just went in and protected that too. I'll see if that changes things. BTW, the A7 has aggressive power management issues as well.
---------- Post added at 08:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:37 AM ----------
And if you go with the Honor 8 or Axon 7: Get a case. I've never held an Axon 7, but people who have say it's as slippery as the Honor 8 (which is to say very).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is. I was able to find the same model case for both, so they both look at least somewhat similar in their cases. And they're no longer slippery. Unfortunately both beautiful phones may as well be ugly plastic ones now.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LXTROW1/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LXS2BQW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
IMO both phones are great - I just need to get used to some of the differences that Honor has included in EMUI. Neither of my phones have Nougat, so that should hopefully change both for the better. They are different though. And both have SD card slots. This is why One Plus was never an option for me, nor would iPhone, nor would any of the Nexus phones have ever been. Even the Pixel.

Honor 8 is snappier than OnePlus 3 (not the T version):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvRFaIEUba0
OnePlus 3 is snappier than Axon 7:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvRFaIEUba0
Games aside, honor 8 is much snappier than Axon 7.
Axon 7 has much better audio though.

Games aside, honor 8 is much snappier than Axon 7.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Based on a benchmark. Some phones cheat on those.
I didn't run any benchmarks. I'm just saying that my perception was that the A7 is quicker than the H8 when scrolling through the Nova app drawer with the grid size altered from default to be 5x6.
Just ran a simple test. Opened FB on both, and opened a web page on both. H8 won. That was after clearing apps using the multitask button. Opened Google Play on both, A7 won. Opened Google Maps on both, A7 won.
Probably not a great test though, since between the time I made my last post earlier, my A7 has been updated to Nougat and the H8 is still on Marshmallow.

The Honor 8 is a great phone... If you're content with EMUI. If you're looking for a custom roms the Axon 7 has more. The GPU on the Axon 7 is far superior to the Honor 8 (which means it'll last longer performance wise), but the CPU on the Honor 8 is substantially better than the SD820.
The Axon 7 has better built in speakers and a better display than the Honor 8.
Overall the only real difference comes to whether or not you can stand EMUI for as long as you have the phone. If you want functioning Lineage, the Axon 7 is the better choice.

One other thing that may be a minor point worth thinking about is the quick charging.
I haven't tried the included adapter yet. But since this does not have a Qualcomm chip, it is not Quick Charge compatible. So Honor has its own method of accomplishing the same thing. If you're like me and various family members have Qualcomm based devices, you may have invested in a Quick Charge 2.0 or 3.0 portable charger, wall charger, car charger. I have done that with all 3 of my examples. None of these are going to charge the H8 quickly. It would be nice if there were a single non-proprietary standard.